The Thing About iPhone Killers


I do a lot of posts about the competition for a few different reasons. Ultimately though, it’s because if we as Apple fans aren’t aware of what the competition has, then we’re just blindfolded loyalists – which is exactly what people see us as. But this Android versus Apple thing has been getting pretty ridiculous lately, and what’s frustrating is that no matter how justified I feel I am in choosing the iPhone, I’m told that I’m just a “fanboy” and blinded by the “Apple halo.”

This is prompted by a conversation I had with a friend of my wife’s the other day. She’s thinking about buying a new phone, and was debating between an Android model and the iPhone. I told her that the iPhone was great, and one of her other friends called me out as a fanboy, and told her about how great Android was, and how it was “trouble free” and “an open system.” Which is really the problem here.

I’m technologically savvy, but I know that most people aren’t. They buy a phone because of what it can do for them, and don’t have loyalty one way or another. They may buy an iPhone because it works with their iTunes library and replaces an iPod, or they may buy an HTC Evo because their plan is with Sprint and their contract is up. They don’t care if it’s an open system or if it has Flash, they just want a phone  that takes pictures and is easy to use.

That’s why the iPhone is so popular. Anyone can pick one up and figure out how it works, because it’s intuitive and simple. Most Android phones aren’t, and even though they have some really cool geeky tools that I love, it’s all over the place. Not every Android phone can be upgraded with every new update to the OS, the build quality between the various phones is spotty at best, and the latest iPhone killer – the HTC Evo – sucks down battery juice faster than a fat kid at a milkshake factory.

And if this phone is so fantastic, and is “flying off the shelves,” then where were the people lined up for pre orders? Where are the reports of sold-out stores and 100-people long lines? Oh, that’s right. That’s what the iPhone does, not the HTC Evo or any Android phone as of yet.

Google can win this battle, and it’s easy to do. If they limited the phones that Android went on, keeping the quality level high and making them popular, then they might just beat the iPhone with new features and phones.

But that’s not their goal, and it’s not going to be. Because of that, Android is not going to beat Apple in build quality, design, or features that actually work. And that just drives more and more people to the iPhone, because it’s a proven, consistent eco system that they know won’t change or bite them in the ass a year down the road.

So my wife’s friend my end up with an Android phone, and if so, then good for her. And she may start to hate it six months from now and decide to buy something else and that’s good for the phone company. But for me, I’d rather use something that works well, is reliable, and that I know isn’t going to screw me out of the money I’ve put into the ecosystem. Sure, I may buy a new phone every year, but that’s because I want to, not because I need to.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

10 Comments

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  1. Absolutely correct. My daughter (age 17) has been using an iPhone for the past 2 years and my wife is thinking about one. I like geeky stuff too much and iPhones don’t really interest me. Apple has figured out that the real money (profits) come from the nongeeks out there.

  2. Then call them out as ‘..a wannabe geek’
    Maybe that’s a bit too playground tit-for-tat, so you could say ‘Thanks, I’m flattered, the iPhone does far more than I ever expected because I’m very hard to please, so I would certainly buy another and that’s a good thing’
    ….but then the fandroids just can’t believe anyone else can enjoy their iPhone purchase.
    So pour a glass of beer over their head and say ‘cool off buddy’

  3. Have had many co workers say to me that they hate their android phones. One gave up on the Droid phone and went back to a blackberry phone. Most want an iPhone but have discounts on their phone plan thru a Wife or husbands work. So they get a Droid and end up hating it.

  4. Android was built to be a weed OS. It was meant to be thrown on everything, everywhere. Google doesn’t care about quality, only numbers. The more devices that run Android, the more users Google will be able to deliver ads to. All Google is concerned about is ad clicks. They’ll keep Android as bug free as possible just so people don’t get dissatisfied with it. It’s less work for Google to keep Android totally open then they don’t have to make any decisions or take responsibility if anything unsavory turns up on Android devices. So far, this Android business model is the poorest I’ve ever seen since it hasn’t earned a penny. Google is hedging the future so that someday a couple of hundred million Android smartphone users will be constantly targeted for ads once AdMob gets on track.

    There are no iPhone killers because the iPhone is the iPhone. From top to bottom the iPhone platform has no peers. iPhone users should only be happy with their smartphone and not concern themselves with Android smartphones no matter how many features they have.

  5. Android phones are for the geeks but geeks are so 1980’s…..just like nerds….Can I blame this bunch of people for being 80’s I can’t because they chose to be.

  6. I’m an IT professional – Java development, mostly, & I run a number of Macs at home because I just love the way they’re built, and how OSX works – but my wife is completely non-technical, can hardly use her work PC, just the apps she needs every day to do her job, so while it may come as little to no surprise that I have an Android phone, my wife has an identical one & she loves it – she says it’s the easiest phone she’s ever used, and she tried out both the iPhone & the HTC Desire which she opted for in the shop. This claim that Android is somehow not user-friendly is frankly bogus, and our phones actually work well as phones – no loss of signal when we hold them in our left hands, for example. Even the iPhone4 doesn’t really do anything mine doesn’t also do, and it cost me £119 less than the iPhone4 would have on the same price plan. With doubleTwist and SpanningSync on my Macs I’m able to sync my Android phone, Google apps & Macs so that my contacts, appointments, even my non-DRMed music is easily transferred to my phone. Android second best? Myth. Sheer Apple FUD.

  7. People at my office have both iPhones and miscellaneous Android powered phones. They both end up doing in a similar way but often the complaint about the Android phones is that it feels clunky. When they play around with the iPhone the expression is always “wow!”

    I know that the iPhone came out before the Android phones and Apple pretty much invented the look and the way the phones operate whereas all the other phones seem like copiers of Apple innovations. It doesn’t matter to me but would I buy a Porsche or some wanna-be knock off?

    BTW, no one using an iPhone 4 has complained about the reception or antenna. i love the screen, it is amazing!